Coralia Vásquez is a Venezuelan migrant who has been living in Riohacha La Guajira, Colombia for more than six years. She is a Binational Lawyer (Colombia and Venezuela) defender of human rights, migrants, refugees and gender equality. She is the Founder and Director of Fundación Mulier: Mujeres Lideresas Empoderesas y Resilientes, an organization that promotes women's empowerment, gender equality and community development. 

Her extensive professional experience in the humanitarian sector includes management and design of projects with social impact and cross cutting approaches. she has also worked for the construction of youth public policies in Colombia from the Direction of Adolescence and Youth of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF). She also serves as a University Professor at UNAD and Project Coordinator of the Escuelita de Mujeres No Obedientes of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

IVLP Impact Award Project: Migrant Empowerment: Women Building Futures

Coralia’s project is a strategic and informative campaign aimed at migrant, refugee and returnee women in Riohacha La Guajira, a border area of Colombia, which seeks to empower them to make informed decisions about their migration in a safe and legal manner, defend their rights, access goods, services and opportunities, promote their economic autonomy and build a dignified life by promoting integration in the host community. 

In September, Coralia held three workshops with around 30 migrant women each, educating them about safe and legal migration, access to sexual and reproductive health and prevention of GBV, among other topics. In October, the social media campaign will be launched, and two more workshops will be hosted. In December she will organize a service fair and binational cultural exchange event to wrap up the project. Coralia reflected that, “The project has evolved positively, consolidating alliances and adjusting activities according to the local context [the political situation in Venezuela.]” she went on to note that this flexibility “will allow us to adjust the content to the new regulations and ensure greater relevance and effectiveness.”

“Empowering migrant, refugee and returnee women is synonymous with development.”- Coralia Vásquez 

IVLP Exchange Experience  

Coralia participated in the IVLP Project: Migration in the Americas, organized by the U.S. Department of State and CRDF Global in partnership with Global Ties ABQ, International Citizen Diplomacy of Los Angeles, and International Institute of Buffalo.

Coralia’s exchange experience led to the creation of her project: “This regional program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and implemented by CRDF Global, focused on several specific objectives related to migration in the Americas, including national security, human trafficking, legal and safe migration, refugee and migrant integration.”

U.S. Communities Visited 

Los Angeles, CA; Washington, DC; Buffalo, NY; Dallas, TX 

“In my stay, specifically in the city of Buffalo I learned that: migration is a great opportunity in the socio-economic development of the host countries.”- Coralia Vásquez

Country: Colombia 

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